If you are shooting from the prone position...is the buttstock of your rifle placed on your shoulder in the same spot as if you were bench shooting?
Reason I ask.. I finally got off my wallet and got a bipod. I shot some at the range on Friday with a few of my rifles. I wasn't happy with a couple of my shots and the range got a bit crowded. At my lease on Saturday I layed down in the road with bipod on and fired off a couple rounds while I was nice and relaxed. For two days my shoulder has been killing me. Matter of fact, yesterday I thought my collar bone was broken it was hurting so badly. Couldn't even pick my right arm upwards. I have bursitis in my right shoulder to begin with, so whatever I did I aggravated it.
I am in the process of doing a major scope swap around and am getting new glass for my .243. Gonna make that my main hunting rifle as my shoulder hurts so bad all the time from the bursitis, I don't want to develop a flinch. I also have just about completely become a left handed rifle shooter
I love the bipods, not just for shooting but you can place your gun in the sand with the bipod open and not worry about it getting in the action or scope.my rifle shooting method (not off hand or kneeling) is to ,assuming youre shooting right handed, keep your left (non trigger) hand/arm off the bbl and tucked under the butt of the gun with the end of the butt pad resting in your loosely closed fist between your thumb and index finger. this helps steady the gun, keeps it in the correct position into your shoulder and you can adjust elevation up and down by tightening or relaxing your fist. just the way I do it, I'm sure there are severall other ways.
Shooting from the prone position your body in on about the same plane as the rifle, thus the butt will be more on the top of the shoulder and the collar bone might get a good thumping. Shooting from a bench your shoulder will be 90 degrees +/- to the line of the rifle, thus impacting the muscle of the chest and arm rather than the collar bone area. When we shot the M-14's in the marine Corps (OLD CORPS-1964) we had padded shooting jackets that helped absorb some of the kick especially in the prone position. Seems like the body is able to move with the rifle as it recoils in all positions except the prone. Treefarmer
